The present invention relates to shrimp peeling machines for peeling shrimp, including both pre-cooked and raw shrimp, and is more particularly directed to a special gapped roller system which allows the amount of effective peeling action of a shrimp peeling machine to be easily changed.
The present invention further relates especially to a shrimp peeling apparatus developed for the bulk processing of Pandalus Borealis specie of shrimp, but may prove efficacious for other species of shrimp, and is more particularly directed to shrimp peeling machines which peel shrimp by the action of at least two oscillating mating rollers rotating in alternating opposite directions, the shrimp being supported on the rollers and being peeled along the length of the rollers by means of the shells being pinched between the rollers as the shrimp move down the rollers. Prior art machines using such a peeling action normally include a parallel bank of such rollers laterally disposed across the width of the machines and usually had two or more peeling sections, one section leading into the next.
For 25 years shrimp peeling machines identical or similar to that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,778,055 (issued Jan. 22, 1957) have been used for peeling raw shrimp. In more recent years shrimp peeling machines identical or similar to that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,383,734 (issued May 21, 1968) have been used especially for peeling precooked shrimp. Other shrimp peeling machines have also been developed and commercially used. These various types of prior art shrimp peeling machines had various lengths of rollers in the machines and hence had correspondingly various lengths or amounts of peeling action. However, the length of the peeling action was set and fixed in each machine and could not be readily varied.
Hence, heretofore, different, separate machines were needed for different type shrimp which required different lengths or amounts of peeling action. Additionally, even in machines designed to handle a specific type of shrimp, conditions were found to vary. Thus for example, in the first or upper peeling section of the shrimp peeling machine of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,778,055, the inventor has found that shrimp peeled much better when the machine is operated with a slow steady feed, but, in the ordinary, rushed operation of the shrimp peeling machine of both the raw shrimp peeling machine and the precooked shrimp peeling machine, there are considerable amounts of partially peeled shrimp and a considerable number of whole shrimp that have not had any peeling action at all. It has been further found that those Pandalus Borealis specie of shrimp that are totally unpeeled when they advance to the second or lower section of rollers, a considerable volume of the shrimp with all the shells still on are crushed and totally destroyed through the rollers in the prior art machines.
Moreover, some shrimp that are completely peeled in the first section and advanced to the second section are then considerably over-peeled, broken and partially destroyed, leaving the quality of the shrimp less than desired in the prior art machines.
Indeed, it has been found that, when the shrimp peeling machines are run with the proper input feed of precooked Pandalus Borealis species, the second section is not needed for all shrimp during the various seasons of the year. For example, the summer shrimp run in the northeastern states of the United States of the Pandalus Borealis specie is peeled completely in the first section of the machine. At other times of the year, the lower rollers of the section, although needed, if they could be modified to one-half or less of their fixed length, would give a superior peeling job, with more yield, less broken and mutilated shrimp, making a better product and an economical gain for the operator.
The present invention allows the standard, prior art peeling machines to be quickly converted with the special gapped roller change part of the present invention to lessen the total length of peeling action and to perform as good as and better than machines custom designed for that peeling action length. A further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus which requires much less water than is needed for processing shrimp by conventional bulk fed peeling machines having approximately the same capacity in pounds of shrimp per hour.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus which is especially efficacious for peeling precooked Pandalus Borealis shrimp and with the simple change part of the present invention be converted to peel raw Pandalus Borealis shrimp and all other species of shrimp.
Still a further object of the present invention is to utilize existing machines to prevent economic loss to the owners so that, with the insertion of the special gapped rollers of the present invention, all machines can be quickly set or converted to the very maximum performance for all the shrimp species, both raw and precooked.
It has also been found that substantial savings of water is effected when employing the special gapped rollers of the present invention inserted into the machine, with substantially better results as to the quality of the peeling job done in both sections and also with production of shrimp of higher yield.